When I was growing up, my dad used to read me a funny poem about mythical town that was situated on a beautiful cliff. There was a very pretty valley below, and the townspeople would often go to scenic overlook. They weren’t terribly careful, though, because people looking over the valley kept falling off the cliff. The townspeople held a meeting to figure out how to deal with this serious situation. Half of the townspeople decided that the town should put up a fence, to stop people from falling. The other half of the town decided it was smarter to put a full-time ambulance in the valley, to help the people who were hurt. I tell this story at almost every training that I give on PTSD and trauma.

When severe violations of safety, trust, or vulnerability occur, including outright threats to survival, humans are wired to shut down higher-order neural functions and fight, flee, or freeze in order to survive the threat. Clients suffering from post-traumatic stress are faced with the dilemma of figuring out how to carry negative personal history in the present moment without letting it dictate or control their behav­ior.

The core dilemma of post-traumatic stress is how to carry painful personal history forward in life. If clients use fragmented attention and avoidance to cope with what has happened, living a vital life is all but impossible. The alternative is to carry the objective reality of the trauma without the all-encompassing negative self-stories that result from the mind’s misguided sense-making operations.

A recent study published in Medical Care (Serpa, Taylor, Tillisch, 2014) showed that veterans who participated in a nine-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program experienced significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation from baseline to completion of the nine weeks.

When a partner returns from war, it is a time of joy. But after the initial period of celebration, many couples face a number of unexpected difficulties adjusting to their lives together. In this exclusive Q&A, clinical psychologist and author of Coming Back Together Steven L. Sayers offers real tips to help returned service members and their partners navigate the myriad challenges of reintegration and family life after deployment.

Traumatic events like accidents, domestic violence, combat, natural disasters, and sexual assault can have a huge impact on people’s lives. They shake our belief systems to the core and influence our ability to connect with others. As a clinician and a researcher, I have been amazed by our ability to survive and thrive after trauma when given the right set of tools and support.

New Harbinger has published proven-effective self-help books and workbooks, as well as professional books on topics in psychology, health, and personal growth. Our books provide evidence-based therapies such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and more.